Explosive projectile.



T. I. DU PONT.

-EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY?, 1911.

1,015,944. PzInmIal Jan. 30, 1912.

' Afro/Mfrs.

NITED STAS PAE E ca.

FRANCIS I. DU PONT, OIEv WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

ExPLosIvn PROJEGTILE.

- To all 107mm t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRA NoIs I DU PONT, a citizen of the United States, residing at l' IVlmington, county of Newcastle, and State of Delaware, have invented a new and useful Improvementl in Explosive Projectiles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had .to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. f

' The object of my inventionv is to provide means for exploding a projectile, for instance a shrapnel shell, as soon as it has traveled a given'distance from the gun.

In a patent issued to me June 20, 1911, No. 995,635, I have set forth and claimed a projectile embodying a Hy-Wheel within the shell and rotatable on its lon- 'gitudinal axis, and jmeans geared to and operable by thefly-wheel adapted to effect the operation of firing mechanism after a predetermined number of revolutions of the 'shell varound :the ily-wheel. As the projectile, in traveling a given distance, will rotate a given numberof times, t-he'gearing maybe adjusted so that the parts will func-A tion afterIsu'ch,y number of revolutions, and therefore the firing mechanism willy operate after the projectile has' traveled such given distance. In said Patent N o.l 995,635, the specific embodimentf of thev invention disclosed consists of. a screw secured tothe fly-Wheel, a .nut on the screw rotating with the shell and therefore constrained totravel along the screw, and firing mechanlsm rowith the, shell and adapted'to be revleasdby the nut and caused to function' after the prescribed number ofrevolutions of the fly-wheel and screw. In a later'application filed by-me Mayl29, 191;, Serial No. 630,009, I have setjforth an improve-1` ment or modification of thespecific embodif ment described and@ illustrated vin said .Patent No. 995,635, inj-jwhieh the function'- ried respectively4 l'fthe flywheel'and the* shell; or, to be more specic, opposing vfricf tion surfaces are carried respectively by a jdisk on the screw secured to the fly-wheelv and by a nut that, as `in said Patent No..` 995,635 rotates with-the shelland 1s therefore constrained tof move along the screwV until, its primed 'f face contacts with the.

primed face of tliedisk; y

The object 'of present-'invention isy Specicatioz of Letters Patent. applicati@ filed Julyv, 1911. serial No.V 637,308.

'the purpose 'of determining the distance from the gun at :which the bursting shall take place.

In the drawings: Figure l is a lon itudinal section -through the projectile; Fig.

12 is a transverse section on the-line 2 2 of Fig. 1 ,'Fig. 3 is a plan of a, section ofthe internal-casing; Fig. 4 is a longitudinalY sectional vlew of avmodncatlon.`

a' is the shell. Within the shell is al casing b arranged concentrically withthe shellV Vand spaced therefrom.V Arranged concenj Y At'ricwith the longitudinal center or axis of the shell is a tube c secured to the casing b. At the front and rear ends of the shell are ball bearings cZ- and c between the shell a on the one hand and the casing b and tube c on the other hand. Thus the casing b and tube c are freely rotatable relatively to the vshell on an axis coincident with the longitudinal center' line of the projectile.

Within the tube'c and extending along the axis of the shell is a screw f, on which is a ynut g having projections it engaging longitudinally exten-ding recesses 'ff-formed in the internal wall ofthe tube c. The upper end of the screw f is attached to an end plug 7c, whichpis threaded in the point of the projectile. The plug le is providedwith a primedrear face, and the nut g with a posing surfaces may j carry friction ma-I -terials, m and" n, respectively, such as red vphosphorus and a chlorate mixture, which Patented Jan. 30,1912.

Vprilned'front face. For example, hese op 100"l upon-sliding contact'with each other tire,

as 4described lin my prior application Noylo 630,009, or one member may carry a match lhead omposition while the other contacting m'embe may be roughened by grooving, as

also des ribedin the same application. The.

rearfen/d of the screw extends into a. cen- 11G tral hole in the inner Wall of the baseof'the shell. The plug 7c may be unscrewed and the screw f and nut g withdrawn and the i grooves Whe1eby,yvhen the explosive materia-l detonates, the casing is ruptured into a number of small pieces which themselves actas projectiles.

Previous to tiring the projectile, the plug c is unscrewed and the sereY f and nut g Withdrawn, and the nut positioned on the screw at a point determinedl bythe desired distance from the muzzle of the gun at which the bursting-is to take place. lVhen the projectile starts its flight the plug lo and screw f rotate with the shell a, but the casing b and the tube c secured thereto dovnot getfstarted by the force that determines the rotation of the shell, and therefore remain stationary, or nearly so. Hence, as soon as the projectile starts to rotate, the nut which isheld from rotation by the tube, is fed forward by the rotation of the screwl f. After a certain number of revolutions, corresponding to the numbers of turns in the screw thread between the opposing faces of the nut g and plug 7c, the primed face of the nut lcontacts with the primed face of the plug. This occurs at a time when the shell l a with the plug 7c are rotating atta high velocity and the casing l), tube c and nut gV are substantially not rotating.v The result will be that the opposing faces of the nut and plug will slide one upon the other and ignite the priming material. The lire Will flash through the holes p in the tube 0 and ignite the explosives Within the casing which is thereupon ruptured as before described.

In F ig. 4, instead of grooving the casing Wall, it is made comparatively thin and confines a number of balls 1 which are scattered when the explosive Within vthe casing explodes.

It will be observed that the internal casing 7) is in fact a ily-Wheel 7, being the full equivalent of the {ly-wheel described in my two previous applications; but as it also performs the function of a container for the explosive, it obviates the necessity of providing a tly-ivheel which does nothing except act as such. i

virtually the entire contents of the shell, or any desired fraction thereof, may be caused to act as the ily-wheel, thereby gaining increased Weight and momentum for this member without a corresponding sacrifice of space.

A Another advantage of the present invention is that the adjustment oi' the nut upon By means of my present construction,-

the screw is much facilitated, as it is only necessary for this purpose to unscrew and withdraw the plug 7c and then replace it.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: l

1. In a'projectile, the combination with the outer shell', of an internal casing, adapted to contain explosive material, mounted in bearings in the shell so that the rotary motion of the shell is not imparted to the casing, and tiring mechanism, controlling the detonation vof the explosive material, c'onneeted With and actuated by the casing and adapted cooperate to detonate the explosive after a predetermined number of revolutions of the shell around the casing.

2. In a projectile, the combination with the outer shell, of an internal casing adapted to contain explosive material, freely rotatable on the longitudinal axis of the shell, means respectively rotatable With the shell and with the casing and gearedrtogether, and tiring mechanism controlled in its operation by said means;

the outer shell, of an internal casing, adaptmechanism gearing therewith rotatable With .the casing, and firing means carried by each of said mechanisms and arranged to functionWit-h each other after a predetermined number of revolutions of the shell around the casing.

et.. In a projectile', the combination With '9o 3. In a projectile, the combination With` the shell, of means positioned Wholly Within the shell and rotatably mounted therein on the shells longitudinal axis, other means rotatable with the first named means vand gearing with, and movable longitudinallyof, the shell, and firing mechanism controlled in its operation by the longitudinally movable means- In a projectile, the combination with the shell, of mechanism positioned Whollyv within the shell and rotatable therein on the shells longitudinal axis, a removable plug in the point of the Ashe-1l, and gearing` engaging said mechanism and carried by said plug whereby the plug inay be Withdrawn and the. gearing adjusted, -and priming means operable by the gearin 6. In a projectile, the com ination Withy the shell, of a member Within the shell freelyA revoluble relatively to the shells longitudinal axis, a removable plug in the point of the shell, a screw secured to the plug, a nut on the screw rotatable with said member,

and priming means operable by the nut after a predetermined movement of the same along the screw. l

7. In a projectile, the combination With the outer shell, of an internal easing, adapted tube, respectively rotatable with the shell to contain explosive materiaLfreely rotatable on the longitudinal axis of the shell, and primer exploding means within the casing and operable thereby in its relative movement of rotation. l

8j. In a projectile, the combination with the outer shell, of an internal casing, adapted to contain explosive material, lfreely rotatable on the longitudinal axis of the shell, and means extending within the casing and respectively rotatable with the shell and with the casing and geared together, and ring mechanism controlled -in its operation by said means.

9. In a projectile, the combination with the outer shell, of an internal casing, freely rotatable on the longitudinal axis of the shell, a longitudinally extending tube within and secured to the casing, means within the the tube and operable thereby including gearing and a primer exploding device.

10. In a projectile, the combination with the outer shell, of an internal casing, freely rotatable on ythe longitudinal axis of the shell, a longitudinally extending tube within and secured to the casing, mea-ns within the and tube and geared together, andy ring mechanism within the tube and controlled in its operation by said means.

11. In a projectile, the combination with the outer shell, of an internal casing, freely rotatable on the longitudinal axis of the shell, ajlongitudinally extending tube within and secured to the casing, a removable plug in the point of the shell, a screw secured to said plug and extending within the tube along the shells longitudinal axis, a nut on the screw, there being longitudinally-exi tending guides on the tube engaged by 'the nut, and priming means carried respectively by the nut and plug and adapted to function after a predetermined longitudinal movement of the n'ut along the screw. i

12. In a projectile, the combination with the outer shell, of an internal casing adapted to contain the explosive material and freely within the casing, whereby there is formed between the inner wall of the casing and the outer wall of the tube a container for explosives, and primer 'exploding means within the tube,- geared to the shell and casing and arranged to function after a predetermined rotatable relatively to the longitudinal axis `1 'of the shell, a longitudinally extending tubil number of revolutions of the shell around" the casing. v

13. In a projectile, the combination with an Aouter shell, of mechanism rotatably mounted in bearings within the casing on the longitudinal axis of the projectile so as not to partake ofthe rotary movement of the FRANCIS I. nu PONT.

VVitnesSes:

M. HAmiL'roN, A. J. MAGUIBE.

Copies of this patent may 'be-obtained to'r ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ot Patents, Washington, D. C. 

